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ICT4D Week 2018

Friday, March 16, 2018

Glo gets thumbdown for sacking 90 married female staff

Glo Mobile has been receiving thumbdown for allegedly sacking over 90 female married staff on the occasion of 2018 International Women Day, reports ITRealms.Latest in giving Glo knocks and thumbdown is the Public Interest Litigation Initiative (PILI), a non-governmental organization, which said they were hugely pained by Glo sack of these female employees.A press statement made available to ITRealms in Abuja by the Executive Director, PILI, Prof Adesoji Adesugba, the NGO totally condemned Glo action in its entirety and manifestation, insisting Glo has adversely violated the rights of women as encapsulated in the United Nations (UN) Charter against discrimination on any basis, which Nigeria is also a signatory.Also, the group said it was annoying to note that a global brand like Globacom “which ought to have stood firmly against such illicit acts by inculcating global best practices in her modus operandi has gotten itself contaminated in an avoidable error of this proportion.”While recalling that preliminary investigation on the subject matter has thrown up several issues, Prof. Adesugba wondered why Glo could choose to deliberately undermine the letters of Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which explicitly defined what amounts to discrimination against women.The statement reads in part: “It is disheartening to hear that these particular set of female staff who have worked very hard to take the company to the height it has attained today could be treated in a needlessly reckless manner. We at PILI find this unacceptable and have taken a legal action to challenge this glitch.“It is going to be a legal fight to the finish until and unless very urgent and responsible steps are taken by Globacom to restate them back to their various positions with full benefits in addition to paying damages to them for distorting their career path or progress.“Annoyingly, this unwarranted decision was taken when the International Women’s Day celebration for 2018 was around the corner. This is not only a violation of extant laws governing labour in Nigeria but also a complete deviation from global best practices where women who aspire to reach the zenith of their chosen careers are not only given a chance to excel but also supported to do so.“The reasons adduced as accounting for their sack in the company is grossly insufficient. Globacom is tactically saying expertise and competence can be easily slaughtered. Let me remind Globacom that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Number 5 is also aimed at comprehensively achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls all over the world.”As said by him, the time has come for all men of goodwill to rally round women in order to ensure that they successfully overcome any impediments on their way to becoming fully empowered economically, politically and socially.“We have to start the process of ensuring that, no worker in Nigeria, particularly those affected by this action are not used and dumped after contributing immensely in training, mentoring and track record of service to their employers,” Adesugba submitted.Chuks Egbune/GEEITREALMS ... everything news digitally!